Dwayne Johnson continues his attempts to move away from the image of the traditional action hero. The 54-year-old actor was photographed in Brooklyn almost unrecognizable as the 70-year-old Chicken Man during the filming of Lizard Music, the new film from director Benny Safdie.
The footage from October 20 shows Johnson with an aged face, gray hair and beard, a “bucket“ hat and a coat. In one scene, the actor holds a slice of pizza while his young screen partner Theo Clark Leber walks beside him with a large stuffed lizard. The photos were taken in Coney Island, New York.
🔥🚨DEVELOPING: Hollywood actor Dwayne Johnson is ‘desperate’ to be viewed as a serious actor according to many fans as he can be seen dawning a new look in New York City alongside child actor Theo Liber on the set of his upcoming film "Lizard Music." https://t.co/pY3NzWSyWE
Behind the Hollywood star's transformation is two-time Oscar winner Kazu Hiro, known for his work on Darkest Hour and Bombshell. For Lizard Music The rocker undergoes a lengthy procedure with prosthetics and special makeup that transforms him into the eccentric adult Chicken Man.
The physical transformation is not limited to makeup. The actor purposefully reduced his characteristic muscle mass for the role, and according to publications he lost about 14 kilograms. At the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, he joked that the new image meant eating “less chicken“.
Lizard Music is an adaptation of the 1976 children's novel by American author Daniel Pinkwater. The story follows a boy named Victor, played by Theo Clark Leber, who accidentally stumbles upon a mysterious nighttime television show with lizards performing unusual music. His search for an explanation brings him together with Chicken Man and his adult chicken Claudia, and the two embark on a fantastical adventure.
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson looks completely unrecognizable on set of "Lizard Music” in NYC 👀 📸: BACKGRID, GC Images https://t.co/pWTwGTWivS
— Page Six (@PageSix) October 20, 2026The cast also includes Alicia Silverstone, Regina Hall, Tim Heidecker, and Andrew Dice Clay. Colman Domingo, Rachel McAdams, Jeff Goldblum, and David Krumholtz also voice roles. The film combines live-action and computer-animated, and Amazon MGM Studios has scheduled its US premiere for December 25, 2027
The project is the second collaboration between Dwayne Johnson and Benny Safdie after the biographical sports drama The Smashing Machine. In it, the actor transformed into mixed martial arts fighter Mark Kerr, with the role marking a visible turn towards more dramatic and physically transformative characters.
The idea for their new collaboration emerged quickly. The Rock said that after about 45 minutes of conversation with Safdie, he was already convinced to play Chicken Man. The actor described the project as a new opportunity to radically transform himself in front of the camera.